Week 1 is in the books, and for my first week of picks I must say that 4-1 isn’t too bad — only bump in the road was the Chattahoochee-Kell game where the Longhorns were quite impressive and ‘Hooch looked like the 9 a.m. kickoff time got the best of them.

Otherwise the local teams looked great: Johns Creek was dominant, BT beat a top 10 team despite losing a key player, and Pisgah dropped 55 points on Mount Vernon.

Week 2 brings eight new games and all the guys sitting at home last week get to tee it up for the first time in 2012. The two headlining games will surely be rivalry games at Roswell (vs. Centennial) and Alpharetta (hosting Milton) but there is plenty of other action to be excited about around north Fulton as well — including a top 10 matchup with BT traveling to Lovett.

So without further ado, here are the week 2 games.

Roswell (0-10 in 2011) at Centennial (5-6 in 2011)

The battle of Roswell’s two biggest schools should be a good one with both teams hoping to put a stamp on a new era of sorts — Centennial with a new coach/system and Roswell trying to turn the page on a disappointing 2011.

This game went down to the wire last year with a frantic Centennial comeback including a touchdown, on-side kick, and game-winning FG in the last few seconds and for a rivalry game like this I wouldn’t expect anything different this year.

My take – Back and forth early but the Hornets do what they couldn’t last year and strike the win column

Alpharetta (9-2 in 2011) vs. Milton (4-7 in 2011)

There won’t be any shortage of talent on the field when the Eagles and Raiders square off as nine seniors that have committed to Division I programs are spread across these two talented rosters.

But aside from the ample talent, these two rivals will be quite different. Joshua Dobbs and Carlos Burse will lead a high flying passing offense at Alpharetta while talented running backs Peyton Barber and Treyvon Paulk will spark at Eagle offense than needs to move the ball on the ground to be successful.

Which style will work best? We’ll find out soon enough.

My take – Until someone knocks them off, Alpharetta is the top dog in north Fulton. Raiders by 10.

Chattahoochee (0-1 overall) vs. Forest Park (1-9 in 2011)

A chance for ‘Hooch to get healthy in their home opener as Forest Park comes to town with their fourth coach in four years and having not posted a winning season since 1996 — they haven’t had a three win season since 2002. Look for some big numbers on offense from the Cougars as they rebound from their Corky Kell defeat.

My take – ‘Hooch, ‘Hooch and more ‘Hooch

Cambridge (1st game) vs. Riverwood (5-5 in 2011)

Cambridge will kick it off for the first time against Riverwood in a 7AAAAA crossover game — the game will have zero influence on the region standings, but with a short region schedule 7AAAAA coaches to play crossover games to offset the scheduling woes of finding 5 or 6 non-region contests.

For Cambridge, it’s hard to say what to expect other than a raucous crowd and a lot of excitement so any guess is really nothing more than a shot in the dark.

My take — Bears have plenty of wins in their future, but game one ends with a Riverwood win

Northview (3-7 in 2011) vs. South Forsyth (2-8 in 2011)

Old school against new school in this game as Davenport takes his spread up to Cumming to face Jeff Arnette and his Wing-T. The War Eagles struggled to compete in AAAA a year ago and are bumping up to AAAAAA this fall while Northview is stepping out of the largest classification and into AAAAA. If the Titans find some quarterback play close to what they had last year I like their chances against SF.

My take — a late score gives Northview the edge

BT (1-0) at Lovett (1-0)

Two strong teams that found a way to beat really good teams in week 1 behind strong defensive efforts — Lovett winning 7-3 and BT using 9 defensive points to win 25-20 overWestminster. BT won by a field goal last year but the Lions are 3-0 all-time against the Titans at home. With both of these teams ranked in the top 10, look for another slugfest on the field.

My take — Score stays low, but Lovett wins with a late score

Fellowship (5-5 in 2011) at Lakeview Academy (2-8 in 2011)

Lakeview took this one 6-0 in the season opener last year in a budding rivalry between the two small private schools — this is the fourth straight year the two teams have opened up with each other, alternating wins each year.

My take — Fellowship returns from Gainesville with a win

King’s Ridge (5-5 in 2011) vs. Pinecrest Academy (3-7 in 2011)

Third straight year these two teams have tangoed, with a split in the first two. King’s Ridge did take last year’s matchup 21-18 and if they get Tarez Miller moving in the running game against Pinecrest they could make it two in a row.

My take — Tigers win, move to 1-0

St. Francis (0-1) at Mount Vernon Presbyterian (0-1)

Both teams landed on the wrong end of blowouts in week 1 with St Francis losing 48-20 to Prince Ave. and Mount Vernon being throttled by Pisgah 55-13. The Patriots found their success on the ground against MVP, rushing for nearly 400 yards and that fits into well with what the Knights option offense wants to do.

My take — Knights draw their record to 1-1 with the second varsity win in school history

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